


The Prat and The Idiot

by WaitingForArthur



Category: Merlin - Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-24
Updated: 2013-12-24
Packaged: 2018-01-05 22:55:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1099550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaitingForArthur/pseuds/WaitingForArthur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur may be a complete prat to everyone, even to his idiot of a servant, but maybe being his servant won't be all that bad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Prat and The Idiot

**Author's Note:**

> For the Merthur Party on Tumblr!!

Arthur Pendragon. Merlin’s future. Merlin’s _destiny?_

He still thinks the dragon was lying.  Arthur’s so… _Arthur_. Merlin has watched him push around the servants of Camelot; the ones who serve him food and do his laundry and saddle his horses.  Does he realize these people slave and sweat for _him?_

Obviously not because look at him, he’s taunting the ones who are too scrawny and who’ll never make it as a knight of Camelot.  Yes of course there’s the muscle and his skill and the way he twirls his sword…

_Focus Merlin!_ This stupid sword of his needs to be fixed and he’s certainly not going to do it.

“Merlin!”

Crap.

“ _Mer_ lin, have you finished fixing the dents in my sword yet? You do know I need it if I’m to show these _boys_ what it means to be a knight, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Merlin growled through his teeth.

Arthur tilted his head and took a few steps towards Merlin. “Excuse me?”

His stomach dropped as Arthur’s icy blue eyes hardened. Merlin cleared his throat, “Yes…my _Lord_.”

Arthur’s lips quirked and Merlin recognized this look…like he was stalking his prey, eyeing Merlin up, trying to find his week spot.  Merlin swallowed hard. He knew what was coming…

“Merlin, why don’t you grab a sword and shield, we could use a moving target.”

“Oh…no I’m fine right- Oh, okay,” Merlin dropped the sword he was fixing as Arthur grabbed a handful of Merlin’s tunic and lifted him from his seat.  He shoved Merlin towards the rack and sauntered back to his knights.

Merlin mumbled under his breath as he grabbed a sword and shield. Arthur always threw him into the pit of knights trying to prove themselves and Merlin always came out looking like a… _dollophead_.

 “Let’s go Merlin! I haven’t got all day!”

“Right, because you still have to order me around to do everything else,” Merlin muttered under his breath. He hefted the shield, stumbled a bit, and groaned at the laughter that came from the knights.

Merlin turned to face Arthur, ready to glare and shoot daggers at him, but Merlin became dumbstruck as he watched Arthur twirl his sword and ready himself to attack Merlin.  The sunlight hit his golden hair and he smiled as Merlin mirrored his stance.

“Learning, are we? You know Merlin, you’re not fooling anyone.”

Merlin tried to be smooth and circle around the field like Arthur always did, but his feet failed him and he tripped, causing the crowd around them to laugh at him…again.  Arthur took his chance and swung his sword at Merlin, who blocked it with his shield.  His arm ached from the vibration.  He dove in taking a few swings at Arthur, which only got him more chuckles from the crowd.

Merlin stepped back, his breath short from the small amount of effort, “What do you mean I’m not ‘fooling’ anyone…my lord,” He asked hastily.

Arthur ran towards him, landing a bone quaking blow on his shield, his face inches from Merlin’s, “I know your secret.”

His heart jumped to his throat, his eyes widened, and for a moment he thought Arthur knew about his magic, “My—My Lord?”

“You envy me.”  He said quietly as he circled around the field.  He did some fancy footwork and landed another blow on Merlin’s shield. Merlin stumbled back from the hit, but breathed a sigh of relief.

_Prat_. “And how is that?”

Arthur’s taunting smile faltered and Merlin took his chance.  He leapt forward and with a shaky arm, he lifted the sword, but Prince Prat beat him to it.

Merlin wasn’t sure how it happened, but he ended up on the ground, face down in the dirt.  He felt the pressure of someone on top of him, “Don’t be an idiot Merlin, who wouldn’t envy me?”  Arthur pushed off of Merlin’s shoulder and raised his arms in victory.  Merlin stood with shaky legs and dropped his shield and sword.

He would argue with Arthur, but there would be no getting past his thick skull.  Merlin sighed, “Would that be all?”

Arthur turned to him and gave him a curt nod. Merlin went back to his sword, tinkering away while Arthur boasted and laughed with his fellow knights.

Merlin had decided to forgive the arrogant Prince.  After all, it wasn’t Arthur’s fault he was raised to be a complete prat to everyone; at least that’s what Merlin told himself so he could make it through another day with the supercilious clotpole.

He knocked on the chamber doors waiting for Arthur to let him in.  He heard him call from inside and he entered with a tray of food.  He stopped short when he almost ran into a half-naked Arthur.

“You’re late…I had to start undressing myself.  Is my bath water ready?”  Arthur sat on his bed and removed his shoes.

Merlin placed the tray on the table and walked over to the tub.  Testing the water, he found it to be perfect. “Better than it’ll ever be,” he said with a smile.  Arthur continued to strip down until all his clothes were off.  He threw them at Merlin, who fumbled and dropped them on the floor.

“How have you made it this far? You can’t even catch clothes,” Arthur asked.  He stepped into the bath water and lowered himself gingerly into the steaming water, “Well, you may not be able to catch clothes or wield a sword, but you do make a perfect bath.”

Arthur sank as far as he could into the water, letting out a long sigh.  Merlin watched as Arthur closed his eyes and relaxed into the water.  They usually don’t talk during bath time.  At first it was because Merlin found it extremely uncomfortable to run a rag over Arthur’s body and wash the dirt off every crevice, but he got used to it and tonight he felt like learning more about this boy.  He had to be more than brawns, right?

“Um—“

“You’re not going to try and start a conversation, are you Merlin?”

Merlin snapped his mouth shut and glared, “Well, if you’re going to be like that, then no.”

Arthur opened his eyes and looked up at Merlin, “I’m not about to have a deep conversation with you while you’re wiping down my chest.”

“Who said it was going to be a deep conversation? I just figured if I’m going to be working with you for the rest of my life I might as well—“

Arthur held up a hand, “Whoa, rest of your life? Don’t get too ahead of yourself.”

Merlin stood up, offended, “What are you saying?”

“It’s only been a few months Merlin and so far you’ve managed to spill food all over me, scare off prey during hunts, you don’t clean my clothes as much as you should, and you are terrible at mucking out the stables.”

“Yet you haven’t gotten rid of me,” Merlin pointed out.  He turned his back on the Prince and reached for a clean cloth that had been warming over hot coals for Arthur.  As he spun around to face Arthur again, his foot slipped on the wet rag on the floor.  He stumbled forward, careening straight for the tub.

He had a split second to see Arthur’s surprised expression before his knees hit the side of the tub and he fell right into the bath water and into Arthur’s lap.

Water cascaded out of the tub and splashed Arthur in the face, “Merlin! You _idiot_!”

Merlin fought to sit up right, “Sorry! I’m so sorry! I just—oops, didn’t mean to grab you there—ow, I…” He was able to position himself so he wasn’t sitting on Arthur’s knees.  He looked to Arthur with a sheepish grin.  Arthur stared at him, his hair dripping and stuck to his forehead.  “Still want to keep me?”

He saw Arthur’s lips twitch, fighting to hold back a smile, “You may be a complete buffoon, but at least you keep life interesting. Now get out of my bath water and fetch me a warm cloth and clean up this mess.”

If it weren’t for the amused smile that had spread across Arthur’s face, Merlin would normally be annoyed with his orders.  Maybe being the prat’s idiot wouldn’t be so bad after all.


End file.
